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Laxative withdrawal in eating disorders: Treatment protocol and 3 to 20‐month follow‐up
Author(s) -
Colton Patricia,
Woodside D. Blake,
Kaplan Allan S.
Publication year - 1999
Publication title -
international journal of eating disorders
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.785
H-Index - 138
eISSN - 1098-108X
pISSN - 0276-3478
DOI - 10.1002/(sici)1098-108x(199904)25:3<311::aid-eat9>3.0.co;2-l
Subject(s) - laxative , abstinence , intervention (counseling) , psychology , eating disorders , medicine , psychiatry , constipation
Objective This article describes a treatment protocol for laxative withdrawal and presents some preliminary information about response to treatment at 3 to 20‐month follow‐up. Method Patients were contacted 3 to 20 months after admission and evaluated with a shortened form of the Eating Disorders Examination (EDE). Results Fifty‐seven percent of patients were abstinent from laxatives at follow‐up and there were significant reductions in laxative‐related symptom variables. Abstinence from laxatives was not accompanied by any other changes in eating behavior and was not associated with any pretreatment variables that were assessed. Discussion It appears to be feasible to withdraw patients from laxatives as an isolated intervention with a reasonably high rate of success. © 1999 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Int J Eat Disord 25: 311–317, 1999.